So I'd like to welcome everyone this morning. I'm glad that you're here. I'd also like to welcome
everyone who's watching online. Maybe you're traveling or checking the church out from a
distance. We welcome you. I believe that God will bless you right where you are.
We have just a few announcements this morning, just about our monthly lineup of events.
We have Flourish for Women on November 10. That is at 645 right here. We have the Men's Bible
study. That's every Saturday over at Panera at eight o'clock in the morning. And we have healing
rooms the first Thursday of every month from five to six thirty. All that stuff is on our events page
on the website if you need to look that up later. So I'm going to pray for the offering. We're not
going to pass a bucket or a plate or put anyone on the spot. We have a box in the back where you can
give. You can go and give online. Just make sure you write your checks out to Two Rivers Church.
They're the ones that helped us plant this church in Apache Junction. So I'll pray for the offering.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the ways that you provide for us and care for us. We thank
you for our jobs, our homes, our cars, the things that you allow us to enjoy. And Lord, we thank you
for the opportunity to worship you by giving back that we can give cheerfully. And Lord, we know that
it may leave our hands, but it never leaves our life. So we thank you for the opportunity to give
and worship you. And we pray that the gospel is advanced in Apache Junction and around the
world. In Jesus' name. Amen. So we have a little announcement. Dawn wants to come up here and
share with you guys. I'm not quite sure what's going on here.
Not just me. I'd like to invite the leadership team right now and our other pastor. So we're
going to continue our worship with showing gratefulness. This is pastor. We've always
appreciated pastors. Can you hear me? Okay. Thank you. You were done singing. We turned
you off. Yeah. Turn me off. Can you believe it? Leave my microphone on. Come on. She's
always got something to say. So we'd like to just show our appreciation officially to our
pastors right now. And a lot of you have contributed for them and signed some cards. And we're going
to, as a leadership team, we're going to pray over them. And just, we just wanted to please
make sure to let them know, if you haven't already, just how grateful we are for their
leadership. So if you want to just pray with me, Lord, we thank you so much for the leadership
that you have given us, that you have given us this church, that you have given Tim and Jesse
the vision in leading us, and that they always put you first. And we are so grateful that
you are first in this church, that we have three pastors, that we have Pastor Tim and Pastor
Jesse, but you are our head pastor. And we thank you, Lord. And we thank you that they
listen to you and that we can submit to them because they do listen to you. Praise your name,
Lord. And I just wanted to say how happy I am that I'm allowed to be here and to serve
under you two. It's been awesome to see the both of you grow in the church. And I'm just
blessed. And I think I speak for everybody in the church that we're all blessed by you
and your leadership. Thank you.
And I'm just grateful for the words of truth that come out of your guys' mouth. They're challenging.
And they hit. And I know it's by the Lord, because it lands and I can see the seeds beginning
to grow not only in myself, but in others. So I'm so grateful for your obedience, for opening
your mouth and speaking God's truth and his word and teaching us how to break that apart
too. So I'm so grateful and pray, right? I'm going to pray real quick. Lord, I just thank you for Tim
and Jesse. I thank you for the wisdom and the revelation you give them and that there's no fake
bone in their body, Lord. They are just raw. They're real. They're truthful. And I just love that about
them, Lord. I thank you for the example that they are to us as pastors, Lord. And I thank you
for how they lift us up and encourage us with your words, your truth. And it's not just tickling our
ears, Lord. It's challenging us to step closer to you. And so we thank you and we praise you for
lifting them up into this position, Lord. We pray blessings upon blessings, revelation, knowledge,
and just wisdom as they continue to move forward, Lord. And we just praise your holy name and
thank you for raising them up for such a time as this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Yes, we love our pastors. And so, Lord, we just thank you for them. And we thank you, Lord, for
their humble hearts, Lord, to be able to serve us like they do. We just give you praise and we just
thank you for their leadership in this church. And we speak blessing over them that you would prosper
the work of their hands, that you would bless their health, Father, bless their home, bless their cars,
bless everything about them, Lord. We just thank you for them.
In Jesus' name.
Thank you.
So when I first met Tim and Jess, it was at Two Rivers. I walked into a discipleship class and they
were already there. And I was wearing this goofy shirt. It has a schematic symbol for an EL34 vacuum
tube. And I'm like, nobody ever is going to know what's on this shirt. They're just going to think
it's some weird thing. And I walk in and they're like, it's an EL34. I'm like, instantly, you know,
we were like, yeah. So, but we have so much in common, but, but no, we're, we've become like
family. Tim and Jess are, I mean, we've, we've gone through so much with them. They've helped us
with so many things. They're always there for us. And I can't imagine doing this with anybody else
there. I can't imagine having anybody that I'd rather have as my pastors. And they're the real
deal. What you see is what you get. I mean, there is nothing fake about these two. They are, I mean,
they just love every one of you so much. And I, I, you know, when you, sometimes when you're on the
inside and you see how the sausage is made, it's not so pretty, but I mean, this church, we just have
a leadership team. Everybody looks out for each other and it all stems from the way that Tim and
Jess have, have just put this all together. So Lord, we just pray that you would continue to bless
Tim and Jess, that you would, you would prosper them, that you would take all their faithfulness and
all this time that they've spent serving you and preparing to do ministry in Apache Junction.
Lord, we just pray that you would, you would just pour out your spirit on everything that this
church does, that you would keep us protected from, from the attacks of the enemy. Lord, we just thank
you so much for Tim and Jess and the, and their leadership and the example they set. And we just
ask for, for favor on everything that they do. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys. Thank you
everybody. And I want to thank everybody for signing the cards and for the donations. Appreciate
it. Thank you guys. Wonderful. Hallelujah. It's been a real privilege to be here. You know,
it's been almost two years since we've started this church and I've gotten to know a number of
you and it's, it's been very fascinating. It's been amazing to see what God is, is doing in our
lives. It's amazing to see the way that he has healed and grown so many of us. So I'm just,
I'm really thankful to be here and I appreciate all of you guys. Amen. So we're going to be in
Philippians chapter three this morning. And my message is titled The Crisis of Next. And when I
was younger, my first career was actually in the audio industry. And I would go out and I'd work
at concerts and theatrical productions and, you know, a couple like big national events here and
there. But, you know, the big ones we would spend like months preparing for and it would maybe last
two or three hours. And it was equipment and rehearsals and logistics and semi-trucks and
schedules and meetings. And, you know, what if this thing breaks or what if the power goes out or what
if the talent doesn't show up? And everything was focused around these couple of hours. And finally,
like the day would come and everyone was excited and the thing happened. And then it was over.
And the audience went home and, you know, we're there till the next day, picking everything up and
winding up cables. And afterwards, you'd kind of experience this strange emotional, like, crash.
You'd be tired, maybe a little depressed. And I kind of called it the day after Christmas.
Christmas. You know that feeling? It's, you know, for weeks you're getting ready for something or
you're getting ready for Christmas. And the decorations and the shopping and the food and
the parties and the family coming from out of town. And everything is kind of culminating around
Christmas Day. And then December 26 arrives. And you're standing in the kitchen. You're eating a
cold ham sandwich. And this thing that you spent all this time and all this emotion investing
yourself into is over. And here's the deal. Nothing had to go wrong to feel this way. You know, maybe
Christmas was wonderful. Maybe the production, the show was, it was wonderful. And you did
everything that you set out to do. But now it's over. And then there's this question that hangs in
the air of, well, what's next? And I think a lot of us experience a version of that throughout our
lives. You know, when we're young, we're trying to figure out, well, what are we going to do with
our lives? What are we going to do when we get out of school or college? What career am I going to
pursue? Who am I going to marry? And, you know, maybe you get those things figured out. Well, then
there's more questions. And we go through life, you know, we're always kind of looking towards the next
thing. I think that's normal. And we want our lives to matter. We want to make wise decisions and do
something meaningful. But I think that something happens when we spend our lives looking always
towards the next thing. I think that it's easy to start understanding who we are through what we do.
And over the years of my life, I identified through that. I said, I'm a businessman. I'm an engineer. I'm
a programmer. I'm a pastor. I'm a husband. I'm a friend. And those are all very meaningful things to me.
But sometimes those things come to an end.
Now, I retired for a whole year at one point in my life. I ran a business. I sold it.
And I retired. And after all that was over, I was home. And I was experiencing something I never
expected to experience in my life. I was panicked. And it was like, what am I going to do?
What am I going to do next? What am I going to work on? And I realized that as my hands weren't
moving, I wasn't controlling anything. I all of a sudden had this crisis of, I don't control
anything right now. What am I going to accomplish? And then I started to recognize that, you know,
my activity had become my identity. So my inactivity had become an identity crisis.
And I think that Christians have a really strange way of talking about the future.
We talk about, well, we got to find our calling. And I believe God calls people. I believe he gives
people assignments. I believe he speaks to us. I believe he directs our lives. But I sometimes
wonder if I make the whole thing more complicated than it needs to be. And, you know, I'm looking to God
for, like, this really specific plan for, like, everything in my life. And somehow it's my problem
to discover what that thing is. You know, it's like God has the laser pointer. And I'm the cat.
And we live our life, like, chasing this dot. Like, where's the dot, God? And it goes under the couch,
and it's gone. And somehow we get to the point where we're afraid to do anything until we can find
it, until we can lay hold of it. And we ask, what if I chose the wrong career? What if I marry the
wrong person? What if I move to the wrong city? What if I miss God's calling on my life?
And there are times where I wonder, well, maybe this thing I believe God is speaking,
is that really God? And maybe it's just my emotions or my preferences or this thing I want. Maybe it's
my fear. And, you know, there's times where, you know, God's direction in our lives is very clear,
and there's other times where it's not. And let's say we do discover the plan. Let's say we catch the red
dot. Now what? Or more importantly, you know, what happens when we screw up? Because we will.
We'll make a bad decision, or we'll miss an opportunity, or we'll misunderstand something
or somebody, or we'll open our mouth. Ever done that? And now you're terrified that you've ruined
God's whole plan for your life. What happened? Oh, you've created a system that you really can't win
it, right? And you can spend years living in this thing, and I've lived in this thing. I call it the
pride of regret. It's the pride of regret when we treat our failure as the final authority over what
God can do through us and with us. And we say things, well, I messed this up. I missed my calling,
and I got outside of what God's will, and I ruined everything, and I'm irredeemable. I missed the dot.
And the devil doesn't even have to come and attack us. We can take ourselves out doing this.
You see, not everybody gets a burning bush. Not everybody has an encounter on Damascus Road.
And what's so amazing about those things is Moses was just tending sheep, and God showed up. It was an
everyday, ordinary day. And Paul was traveling to Damascus. It was everyday. It was ordinary. And God
came, and he spoke. They weren't, you know, ordinary career planning sessions. So would we be expecting or
waiting for God to move in a way that we need to see that before we move forward? You know, I think
that God has spoken to us in a number of ways. I think he's already given us a lot of, a lot to work
with. I like this passage in Proverbs. This is Proverbs 29, 18. It says, where there is no prophetic
vision, the people cast off restraint. But the one who keeps the law blessed is he. Now your Bible may not
say prophetic. The King James and the NASB, I think they just say vision. It's not wrong. And the NIV,
I think they say revelation. I like that a little better. I like how the net, it makes it impossible
to miss that this is a vision from God. You know, in this verse, people have taken it into all kinds
of things, and they've made speaking careers around, well, just have this vision, and God will put a
sticker on it. And, you know, I've had a lot of ideas in my life, and a lot of projects, and done
deals, and some of them worked, and some of them didn't. And some of them, I thought, man, God's really
in this thing, and it worked out. And then there were some things I thought, well, God's really in
this thing, and it didn't work out. And I prayed that something would work out, and it didn't. And it
doesn't mean that I didn't love God, or was in some secret sin, or that he was punishing me. It's just
what happened. I learned from it. I moved on. I kept following God. But God hasn't changed.
See, this verse isn't a promise that, you know, God's going to sit us down and be like, okay, here's
your five-year plan. Here's where you're going to live. Here's what you're going to make. Here's what
we're going to do. And then he makes it all happen. It's about God revealing vision and instruction.
And look at the second half. It says, the one who keeps the law, blessed is he. The law is all the
stuff that God already said. And it's amazing. You know, what if we just took the things that
God already told us to do, and we started to do those things?
You know, I'm going to do something this morning. I'm going to do something different. I don't usually
do this. I'm going to prophesy over you guys this morning, okay? You with me? So if you're here this
morning, I believe that God is calling you to do something to love your neighbor.
Go knock on their door and learn their name. I think God wants you to do this. Ask them.
Ask them this. Ask them, what are you hoping to see in the next year? And then listen. Don't interrupt.
Just listen. Ask them questions. Ask about their fears. And maybe they're afraid that, you know,
AI will take their job. Or maybe they have a crisis of next. Or maybe they'll tell you about it. And
maybe you'll get the chance to pray with them. And you can tell them that you care.
You see, we could spend our whole lives doing those things. We'd never run out of opportunities
to follow God. We don't need a burning bush. We don't need a prophetic word. We don't need the
laser pointer. We have the word of God. And I love it when God speaks. And he calls me my name and says,
I want you to do this thing. This doesn't mean we don't have to seek God's voice. We pray. We study
scripture. We seek wisdom. We pay attention to the world. But we also have to make some decisions and
expect some responsibility. And trust God. Another part of the crisis of next is that
our abilities tend to change as we get older. And, you know, maybe like an Olympic athlete,
maybe they become a coach. Or someone who is a tradesman and works hard becomes a teacher
or a mentor. Or a mechanic maybe becomes a manager. You know, and when I was working in audio production,
it was late nights and long hours and lots of Pizza Hut. And it was heavy work. And it was a lot of
energy. And I, at this point, I don't want to spend my nights and weekends hanging 200-pound speakers
from a ceiling. Like, I'm still involved. I still like these things. But, you know, I think there's
wisdom in recognizing that the seasons of our life, they have to change. And I think God has created
humanity in such a way that we have no choice at a certain point but to change seasons.
You know, we've all seen somebody who is a little too old to be wearing the baggy jeans and the
sunglasses and the backwards hat. Like, this season has changed, my friend. But our circumstances,
our minds, our bodies change. And we have to adapt. And some of us are at a point right now where we're
having to reinvent ourselves. The world has changed around us. And I want to encourage you to embrace
and walk into the unknown with God. And you can trust him. And if we can encourage or pray or help you
in any practical way, we are here for you. We love you. But then there's the other crisis of next. Of what
if, what if there's another next? Or when there's not another next? What happens? Maybe you're, you're
too old to work or when the health runs out or when you can't do the things that you've always wanted to do.
You know, there's a crisis of identity that comes with that. And the season of life that comes to an
end. You know, maybe you've spent your whole life running a business. People depended on you and
they'd call you when you needed help. And then one day it's time for someone else to take over.
And you know that's what has to happen. But it doesn't make it easy.
Because somewhere along the way, this thing that you did became a part of, of who you were. So you
became the somebody, the leader, the expert, the boss, the person that everybody called on and needed.
And now someone else is doing that. And the question starts to emerge as if my calling is the
thing that makes me somebody, then who am I when I no longer do the thing? And maybe you find something
else to do. Or maybe you mentor someone or, or travel or, or join a club or restore an old car. I
don't know. Great. Meet some people, you know, see some places, travel, clean out your house, take a trip.
And what I learned in my, my year of retirement is that lasted about six months. And my whole
house was cleaned up. My yard was cleaned up. I did a few things I wanted to do. And now who am I?
Now there's a story in John 11. I think it's really interesting. Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the
dead. And Jesus is getting on the radar of all the religious leaders. And they're becoming very
concerned about this Jesus character. And John 11 verse 47 says, so the chief priests and the
Pharisees called the council together and said, what are we doing? For this man is performing many
miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in you. And the Romans
will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation. So they get together and listen to what
they're afraid of. You know, if Jesus keeps going around and doing these things, you know, everybody's
going to believe in him. And then the Romans are going to come. This whole thing is going to fall apart
and we're going to lose our place. They took our jobs. And they've spent, they've spent their lives
participating in this whole system that they thought was so important. And the very Savior
that they had been hoping for was standing right in front of them. But they couldn't see him for who
he was. And they're afraid. They're just thinking about what's going to happen to everything that I've
been protecting. And they're wondering what happens to everything we've spent our lives protecting and
building if we let this go on. And look where that fear takes them. And look what they're willing
to do. Look how far they're willing to go to protect what they have. Instead of celebrating what
Jesus has done, that he's healing people, that he's delivering people, that he is setting them free
of their sin. They're saying, well, this is my turf. This is who we are. This is our place. This is
what we do. We're the ones who connect people to God. What am I willing to do to protect the place
I've made for myself? On Friday night, I had a, I had a little run-in with a local law enforcement.
I got pulled over out on Apache Trail. And I was driving my truck and Jesse's in the passenger seat.
And it wasn't one cop car. It was two. Now, I know what to do because I watch cops. Okay? I know what
to do. I pull over. I pull over in the AutoZone parking lot. Shut the truck off. Put the keys on
the dashboard. Roll down the windows. Hands are on the steering wheel. Officer walks up. The other one
walks up on the other side. Sir, do you have any firearms or weapons? Well, not today, sir.
Then he says, could you open the doors? Like, your truck's really tall. We can't see what's going on
in there. Okay. So we open the doors. And then he says, could I see your license and registration?
Well, it's up there on the visor. Can I, can I reach and get it? I said, okay. Hand him all this.
He asks where I'm headed. Well, I'm going to AutoZone. Well, actually, I'm already here.
And I'm dropping off this bucket of used motor oil. I have this little orange Homer bucket in the back
of the truck. And he says, well, I pulled you over because you've got a taillight out. And at that
light back there, the front of your truck pulled just into the crosswalk. Well, I'm sorry, officer. I'm
sorry. He says, that's okay. And then there's this long pause. He's kind of looking around. I'm like,
maybe he's looking for drugs or something. And then I started to think, is there something about this
truck I don't know about? I bought it like six months ago. You know, maybe he was involved in
something. This is going through my head. And the officer's looking at my registration. And then he's
looking at the truck. And he looks me in the eyes. He says, you said this is your truck?
Yeah. You sure? Yeah. Who's Jessica? Well, it's technically my wife's truck. Okay. But I did
pay for it. I see. And then he's holding the registration. He's comparing the VIN number to
the one on the dash. And then he radios in the VIN number. It takes forever. I'm just sitting there.
What is going on? And he's on the radio now. You know, we got one driver, one passenger pulled
over here. And I've seen this happen on cops and it wasn't good. Okay. And then he asked me,
he's looking at the register. What year is this truck? 2001. Looks at the registration. How many
miles are on this truck? Does it run good? Run good. Apparently the lighting needs some work.
And he looks up and down. He's like, this thing's in great shape. And he goes into this
whole rant about, you know, how new cars are not as good and how they don't make them like
they used to. And he just goes on. He had a truck just like this, but it had the sliding
or window. And, you know, he should have never sold it. That truck was made in Flint, Michigan.
And he goes, I think he shed a tear. And we're going back and forth about the truck and kind
of having a good time. And like, he's practically singing like Bob Seger, like a rock, you know?
And then he just, and he just hands me the paperwork and he says, well, have a great night.
And that was it. No ticket. Not even really a warning or a lecture. It was just a conversation.
You know, God is good. And I, I don't know what they were thinking when they first saw us.
I mean, we were grubby. You know, we were out, we were doing yard work all day. We changed the
oil in the truck. I'm sure they laid ice on us and thought, well, now here are some serious,
hardened criminals, right? You know, Bonnie and Clyde with the bridge gospel bumper sticker.
Hallelujah. But I know that, that when they pulled us over, we had two very, we had very specific
roles, right? He was the police officer and I was the guy with a taillight out. And apparently I pulled
into the crosswalk. Then we started talking. And in that moment, we were just a couple of guys talking
about trucks. And, you know, it's amazing how life always has a way of illustrating a biblical truth.
And it was that we were so much more than the roles that we were occupying.
And, and we do this all the time. We meet someone and we learn things about them. And we, maybe we ask
them, what do you do for a living? Or where do you work? Or, you know, we look at what they drive or
where they, what they, how they dress or maybe where they went to school. And then we start to form this
whole opinion and narrative about who they are and their value in the world and their intentions. And,
you know, sometimes we do the same things to ourselves. You know, we'll, we'll spend years,
you know, building a career or a reputation or a position for ourselves. And after a while,
you know, we start to believe these labels that we put on ourselves. What do you do? Well,
I'm important because I do this thing. And, you know, people ask me, well, what do you do for a
living? I'm like, well, maybe I don't want to be judged before I get to know you. Right? And it
isn't strange how much of our identity is wrapped up in such a simple question. But what happens when
I can't occupy that role anymore? You know, because sooner or later, we all have to face that crisis
of next. And, you know, let's go a little further. You know, am I still somebody when I can't walk?
Am I still somebody when I can't drive my truck? Am I still somebody when I can't leave my house?
When I can't care for myself?
What happens when the future that I've been hoping for maybe doesn't exist?
Christ. And I want to be careful. I can't promise that everything in your life will get better from
here. I can't promise that that God will move in a certain way or heal you. I pray that he does.
I can't promise that there's some miraculous opportunity over the next horizon. I can't promise
that. But I do believe that God heals us and provides for us and cares for us. I believe that he
performs miracles and I will pray that he will. But I can't promise you what I don't know.
No. Some things really do come to an end. And sometimes there's things that we're never
going to be able to go back and do again. I think that's part of what makes them so beautiful.
And sometimes we have to live with questions that we'll never have answers to.
So what remains when everything I've used to define myself slips away and it's gone?
And that brings us to Philippians chapter 3. And I think this is fascinating. The Apostle Paul,
he's talking about accomplishments. He was educated. He was disciplined. He was religiously committed.
He had a standing. And in Philippians 3, this is the second half of verse 4. He says,
If someone thinks he has good reason to put confidence in human credentials, I have more.
I was circumcised on the eighth day from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. In my zeal for God,
I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law, I was blameless.
So here's the Apostle Paul, and he's telling the church, he's saying,
Do you want to compare resumes? Let's compare resumes. And he starts listing all his credentials.
I was born in this faith. I was raised in this faith. I was born an Israelite. I was born as one
of God's people. I was born in the tribe of Benjamin. Now the tribe of Benjamin was known for warriors.
It was the tribe of King Saul. It was the tribe of Mordecai. It was the tribe of Esther. It was the
tribe of faithfulness. And they kept Judah worshiping when everyone else had turned.
And Paul is saying, I can tell you that's where I'm from. That's who I am.
Nobody can question my credentials. And he goes on. He's, I didn't just practice my religion casually.
I belong to its strictest movement. I was so committed to what I believed. I put my money
where my mouth is. I was persecuting these people, these Christians. So by the standard of this religious
system that we're comparing ourselves in, he's saying, my record is impeccable. He's saying,
I was somebody. But listen to what he says next. Verse 7, he says,
But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that,
I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Indeed, I regard them as dumb,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from
the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness.
A righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness. So now Paul starts adding
it all up. He starts using this accounting language. He's talking about assets and liabilities,
gains and losses. And he's taking everything that he once counted as gain, and he is reevaluating it
under this new system. And his conclusion, dung. And I don't want to get real technical this morning,
but the Greek word, well, Google it. Anyway, Paul is saying that something has changed.
Paul isn't saying that his education was worthless or that his abilities had no value.
He's talking about the things that he had previously relied on and trusted to establish who he was now
had no value. He's talking about the things that he had relied upon to establish his standing with
other people and with God. And he realizes that those credentials cannot give him what he had in
Christ. So he hasn't just traded one identity or one career for another. He's changed everything that
he counts as gain. And look what he says. It's all loss. And he says,
the far greater value was knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
And in verse 9, Paul says he wants to be found in him, not possessing a righteousness of his own,
but the righteousness that comes from God. You see, his confidence is no longer in his credentials.
And notice how before Christ, it was all, I, I, I, I, I, I was this. I was that. I did this. I was part of
this. And now it's all about what Jesus did. He wants to be found in Christ. And verse 10, it says,
my aim is to what? To know him. To know him. To experience the power of his resurrection. To share in his
sufferings and to be like him in his death. And so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead.
So imagine you're on a road trip. Maybe you're going down some little two-lane state route. You stop in a
small town. Some little mom-and-pop restaurant. You sit some breakfast. They're pouring the coffee.
And they got the mug. And all you can see on the coffee is part of the word Philippians.
And it warms your heart. And you're imagining what the rest of the mug says. I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. And they hand you the coffee. And you turn the cup a little.
And you look at it. To share in his sufferings and to be like him in death? What kind of place is this?
That's a good coffee mug verse. Paul is talking about becoming like Christ in his death and attaining
the resurrection from the dead. Now that is not a promise of an easy life. You know, Paul is not
imagining some future with God where everything goes his way. He's talking about identifying and
knowing Christ through the suffering and through the death. And then looking forward to another
horizon of a resurrection. You see, the Pharisees were willing to have Jesus killed to hold on to the
place that they had. Jesus was willing to be killed in obedience to the Father. And he gave up his place
in heaven, seated with God. He gave that up. And we love identifying with the victory and the
resurrection of Jesus. But before the glory and the resurrection, the Bible says that Jesus emptied
himself. And he took on the form of a servant. And he humbled himself. And before the resurrection
and before the glory and before the ascension to the throne and the right hand of God, and it is
finished, he was willing to get nailed to something. And you can't separate the Christ whose victory
you celebrate from the Christ who hung on the cross.
Now I want to talk about prayer for a moment.
I believe God heals people.
I believe God answers prayer. I believe God speaks to his people.
God has answered many of our prayers as a church in the time that we've been together.
And I believe he provides for all of us in extraordinary ways. And if you want, we are
always here to pray for you. We'll pray for healing. We'll pray for deliverance. We'll pray
for a breakthrough in your life. And we will stand with you in those things. And I believe
that God can do something extraordinary. And if he does, and when he does, we will celebrate.
You know, if your kid comes to Bryce, we'll celebrate. We're there.
You know, if the cancer goes away, we'll celebrate. We're there.
And if your business has a breakthrough, we're going to celebrate. And we're there.
And we'll celebrate the marriage getting fixed, the recovery, the sobriety sticking, the freedom
from anger. Well, we will marvel together at what God has done. And I am so there for that.
But to God be the glory. But I think there's something even more that I want you to receive
today. Something I believe is even more important. You see, the breakthrough that we all pray for,
I want to ask a deeper question. What would receiving that breakthrough actually resolve
for you? You know, maybe the pain would be gone. Maybe the bills would be paid.
Maybe the difficulty would be behind you. Praise God for the way he cares for us.
But what else?
Would it finally convince you that God loves you?
Would you finally start to trust him? Would you finally have peace because you knew what was going
to happen? You see, if God gave you everything you've been asking him for, would that actually
resolve the crisis of what is next? Or would it just postpone it?
Because I want to, I want something for you that goes beyond the next answered prayer.
Because what happens when the next chapter of our life doesn't look like victory?
You see, I deeply care about what each and every one of you are going through.
And if everything falls apart in you, I'll be there for you. If there is a season of weakness
that you go through, I will be there. If there is a season of pain, I'm there. If there's a season
of doubt or depression or addiction or frustration, I'm there for you. And I want things to get
better. I do. And like the friend at midnight, we will bang on the door of heaven asking God
to help. And whether the answer comes tomorrow or next month or 10 years from now, or maybe
it doesn't come the way any of us had imagined or hoped, I'm there. But you can keep loving the
one who's on the other side of the door while you're waiting. See, I want you to know Jesus
in every season of your life. To know his person, to know his presence, to hear his voice, to
have a relationship with him that doesn't depend on everything going the way that you imagined.
I want you to love Jesus when you don't know what's going to happen next.
You know, and after reading what Paul said, you may say, well, I know Jesus loves me. I know my value
isn't determined by my accomplishments. So I guess I don't have to do much.
Oh, Paul goes on. He says in verse 12, he says, not that I have already attained this.
That is that I have not already been perfected, but he says, I strive. I strive to lay hold for
that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to
have attained this. Instead, I am single-minded, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching
out for the things that are ahead. With this goal in mind, I strive towards the prize of the upward call
of God in Christ Jesus. See, I thought we just got done talking about, you know, how our
accomplishments don't give us our right standing. And this is Paul's whole point. Paul hasn't stopped
living with a purpose, but look at his purpose. He wants to lay hold of everything that Christ
laid hold of for him. But Christ took hold of Paul first. God did it. And now Paul is responding.
He's pursuing Christ. He's moving towards this goal. And he's hoping that the part of that is this
resurrection. And that is a very different thing from desperately trying to be someone.
You see, Paul isn't trying to become worthy of Christ through his activity. He's pursuing the
Christ who has already taken hold of him. And verse 16 is calling us to live consistently with what
we have already attained. And that's the foundation for living faithfully. So I want to ask you
something. We've talked about waiting on God. We've talked about waiting for the healing or the job or
the breakthrough. But let's talk about ourselves. Let's look inward for a minute.
Are you all good? Squeaky clean. Just you and Jesus riding together, right?
You got anything in the car you need to know about? Maybe some unforgiveness? Maybe some
bitterness? Some pride? Some laziness? Maybe some resentment? Anything God has asked you to do that
you haven't done. And I hope that, I hope everyone knows that there's no shame in this house.
I want you guys to know that.
And I want you to know that God doesn't need to humiliate you to change you.
You know, shame is one of the devil's favorite tools.
You know, conviction says what you did was wrong. Let's deal with the thing.
But shame says there's something wrong with you. And the problem is you. And you can't change you.
But you see, what you've done is not who you are.
And none of us has everything figured out. That begins with me.
And we all need help. You know, except for the religious people. They're good. They don't need help.
But we're not religious people. We're relationship people.
And I love you guys. And we all need forgiveness. We all need second chances.
We all need Jesus to speak to us and help us and heal us. We need our friends.
And some of us are carrying around disappointment or bitterness or unforgiveness.
And, you know, maybe it's something somebody did to us or something that we did to ourselves.
And those experiences were beyond our control.
But their effects can follow us around for years.
And some of us are 2,000 miles away from what happened or what we did or what they did.
And we're still not ourselves.
And those experiences, they begin to produce resentment and bitterness.
And we have a responsibility to deal with that, regardless of the cause.
And I believe that God wants to set us free from the disappointments of our past.
And the labels that we put on ourselves.
And some of the stinking thinking that we let in.
And he wants us to leave it all behind for what Paul is talking about, the upward call.
And sometimes people come to me or they call me for prayer.
They call me when they have problems.
And now I can always pray.
All of us, we can always pray.
Every once in a while, I can help a little.
I can help a little.
And sometimes people come to me and say, well, can you help me fix my marriage?
Okay.
And we talk and, well, have you apologized for that thing that you said?
Rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob, rob.
And he goes, well, no.
Okay.
Well, God, maybe you can fix my spouse.
but they're not here you're here let's start maybe god can start with you
this whole thing and you know sometimes i find myself in a place where i'm asking god to do
something that i already have all the responsibility and all the ability to do myself
but god i need deliverance i need a breakthrough i need you to heal me i need you to fix me
i need you to fix those people i need you to come in and deal with the devil
and sometimes it isn't the devil it's just me
got real quiet
you know i've been thinking you know if you ever drive across the country how many have driven
like from arizona you moved here from somewhere else and it was it was a voyage right of truck
stops and taco bells and you know if you've ever driven across the country you know that you can
drive for days through through arizona new mexico colorado wyoming it's montana it's just forever
and you pass towns and state lines and you stop for gas and you know no matter how far you drive
there's always this horizon line that's in front of you and i think life is like that it's the
endless pursuit of what's in front of us and of what's next and i think that's the crisis of next
you see it we're always moving towards something the next job the next opportunity the next milestone
the next shiny thing and why do we do it is it because we're curious is it because we're ambitious
is it because we're we're trying to stay relevant maybe we're trying to prove something maybe we're
hoping the next accomplishment will finally make us feel like we're somebody
and i have tons of projects i'm curious i love accomplishing things i like challenges
and over the last few years i've god's been dealing with me i feel like my backlog of projects is probably
full so i'm halfway i can't take anymore so i need to deal with what i have and that's when i started
realizing that you know not everything needs to become my next thing because eventually as we get older
some of those destinations they disappear and there may come a time where we can't do what we once did
and our responsibilities change and the thing that you did is no longer yours
but paul says he is pressing towards a prize and this isn't another earthly achievement
you see there's another horizon beyond the horizon that we all see and it's eternity
and paul said christ has taken hold of him as paul is pressing towards the completion of what christ
has begun in him and his hope isn't in himself it's in christ and he's moving towards the one that he
regards as worth more than everything else that's what's next what's next is well done good and faithful
servant what's next is being found in him what's next is i am hidden in christ
and maybe you've just started out in life wondering what's next and you don't know what to do
or what decisions or what career seek wisdom pray follow what god has showed you make some good decisions
but you don't have to live terrified that one little mistake is going to ruin everything that god has
for you or maybe you're in the middle of of a transition or a reinvention of yourself and you're
maybe you had a business that failed or you lost your job or you know maybe you're afraid that ai is going
to take your career away from you and you're having to come up with the next thing and you're just
trying to figure out what happened you're not broken i mean there's still opportunity pursue it
but that doesn't make that opportunity responsible for your identity and maybe maybe you've retired and
you've spent decades doing something meaningful and now is the time you're handing it to someone else
and you can grieve what you've left behind and in christ you can let it go
or maybe you're facing illness or declining abilities or a spouse or someone who is and i can't promise
that everything is going to change or get better i can't and i can't promise well god has this great
thing it's just over the hill if you just hang in there a little longer but i can point you to the christ
who has conquered death
the christ that paul wanted to find himself in the christ whose resurrection gives us hope beyond
this life
and i can tell you that your achievements were never the basis of your identity that christ is
and maybe your life's going great right now great enjoy it be grateful help the people around you
but don't wait for your life to fall apart to find out what matters most you don't need to hit rock
bottom to meet jesus you see we started this morning we talked about the day after christmas
and everything's over and everybody went home and you're wondering what's next
maybe the most important thing in your life isn't the next thing or the next career the next opportunity
maybe we've spent so much of our lives asking god what's next that we've forgotten what he has
already offered us which is himself
and maybe we need to evaluate some of those things differently
we can still live faithfully we can still pursue our goals
my aim is to know him
and that's what i want to leave you with today
not the certainty that everything
will work out the way you hoped that your wildest dreams will come true
not the promise of another assignment
not the assurance that you get the breakthrough that you're waiting for
we'll certainly pray for that but i want you to walk away with a relationship with jesus that can sustain you
when you don't know what's next
because there will come a time
where the things that you're doing and enjoying today they won't be there
and there'll be things that we never get to finish
i have so many projects
and there may be questions we never get answered
but there is another horizon beyond the one that we see
and that's because we were made for eternity
and when everything else is gone
i want to be found in him
amen
and the bible says that you can know that you have eternal life
and this eternal life is found
in jesus
and today is a great day
to reprioritize
around being found in him
maybe for the first time
and say god i want you to be the lord of my life
so dear heavenly father we thank you
that we can be found in you
we thank you for the things you allow us to do and experience
we thank you for the jobs and careers that we do have
but lord help us
to be found in you
and we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross
that you've made a way for us
to know you
that you allow us to share in your victory
we also share in your suffering
but lord we thank you that we can know you
that we can be found in you
and lord i pray for every person here this morning
that is waiting for a breakthrough
lord i pray that you send that breakthrough
i pray that you send healing
deliverance
favor
a job
a financial breakthrough
whatever it may be
lord we need your help
we depend on you
and in you we live and we move and we have your being
so lord we thank you for all your good things
that you put into our life
and everything that you do for us
that we could never do for ourselves
and i pray that everyone here
the things they set their hands to are successful
that there is joy and hope
all the places that they go
in their homes
in their workplaces
in their neighborhoods
and i pray that through that hope
and that joy
that your people carry into the world
that the gospel is proclaimed
that the people of apache junction
and east mesa and gold canyon
come to know you
as the king of king
and lord of lords
that they are found in you
lord so we thank you
that you have given this mystery to us
we thank you
that the gospel is going forth
and we thank you
that you are a good good father
in jesus mighty name
everyone said
amen
god bless you guys
if you'd like prayer
we'll be up here
if not
you're welcome to enjoy some coffee with us
and have a wonderful sunday
god bless
